A one-off TV movie from the mind of Ian Rankin, his fingerprints are all over it. Filmed around Edinburgh and featuring snippets of the city’s history, this is a love story to the city wrapped around a detective mystery with a twist. The grumpy protagonist, Jim Buchan (Alec Newman) is a detective who believes his nemesis ‘the Monkey’ is out to get him. And then Richard Wilson pops up in the guise of Arthur Conan-Doyle to try and guide him through the truth of the matter.
It turns out that Buchan is actually fictional, created by the pen of writer Jack Harvey (Alastair Mackenzie)… who is also the Monkey. But Buchan is friends with Harvey, who he thought was his best friend who stole his wife away. And there’s Buchan’s new partner. And the fact Buchan falls off a bridge to his death with the Monkey, before being resurrected, Sherlock Holmes like, after Jack Harvey is offered a big wodge of cash.
I have to say, it was all a little confusing for me to fully understand what was going on, although I confess I was on my laptop downloading music while I watched it. The film was atmospheric and Edinburgh looked beautiful, and the central conceit was a real shocker, even though in retrospect I don’t get certain bits. If I watched it again I’d certainly give it my full attention.
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